RAIPUR: In view of the difficulties being faced in the
admission of tribal students in the medical colleges in Chhattisgarh, Tribal
Welfare minister Kedar Kashyap urged the Central government to relax admission
rules.

Leading a delegation, Kashyap on Wednesday called on
Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan and told him that as per the present
norms, admission of only 32 tribal students could be made possible against the
total reserved 166 seats of Chhattisgarh medical colleges. At a time, when
there is huge shortage of doctors in the tribal areas, the tribal students can
solve this problem. The central government should consider seriously about
relaxation of admission norms, he said.

Kanker MP Vikram Usendi, Bijapur MLA Mahesh Gagda and
tribal students were part of the delegation. The Union health minister assured
to consider the demand on receiving proposal from the state government.

Kashyap said, because of the efforts of the state
government much development could be made in the education field in the tribal
areas of Chhattisgarh. Despite of unfavourable circumstances, large number of
students is interested in engineering and medical education. As such, if the
reserved seats of tribal students would remain vacant, it could adversely
affect their willpower, he added.

Kashyap urged the Union Health Minister to relax
admission norms, looking to the local challenging circumstances. He also
demanded to open AIIMS or any other super speciality hospital of that level in
Jagadalpur, in view of lack of medical facilities in Bastar area. In conformity
with the concern of Bastar area, Dr Harshvardhan told the delegation to send a
proposal in this respect through the state government. He assured that the
Central government would definitely take step in this regard.